Just like human personal assistants, digital assistant systems can perform requested tasks and provide requested advice, information, or services. A digital assistant system's ability to fulfill a user's request is dependent on the digital assistant system's correct comprehension of the request or instructions. Recent advances in natural language processing have enabled users to interact with digital assistant systems using natural language, in spoken or textual forms. Such digital assistant systems can interpret the user's input to deduce the user's intent, translate the deduced intent into actionable tasks and parameters, execute operations or deploy services to perform the tasks, and produce output that is intelligible to the user.
Such digital assistant systems may be configured to assist users who have limited accessibility to interact with electronic devices. For example, people with impaired vision, such as low-vision users and blind users, dyslexic users or others with learning disabilities, or even sighted users who simply want or need to use a device without looking at the device during operation can benefit from digital assistant systems that read information to users. In another example, for electronic devices with touch screens, people with limited motor skills, such as those with certain finger or hand impairments, may find performing touch gestures on the touch screens difficult, if not impossible. However, digital assistant systems may receive voice commands, thereby eliminating the need for touch gestures.
However, navigation and browsing of documents remain cumbersome and inefficient, thereby creating a significant cognitive burden on a user with impaired vision and/or limited motor skills.